Pain
by LadySloth
Summary: In rescuing Ace, the first opponent is Luffy's match instead of the last one. One Shot.


**Disclaimer-I do not own One Piece**

"Luffy!" Nami screamed as he flew past them, running through a wall. His opponent laughed and was doing a little dance of excitement, stretching her neck and arms in anticipation. Zoro narrowed his eyes and started to draw his sword.

"Stay out of this, pretty boy!" She cackled, suddenly in front of him with her fist drawn back.

'_I can't block it!_'Zoro swore in his mind, bracing himself for impact. It came as a breath-stealing blow from his right, sending him skidding on the ground. He opened one eye and stared at the sight that greeted him. His captain was standing in his place, coughing up blood with the woman's fist still firmly planted in his gut.

"Lu-!" he started when Luffy shook his head.

"You guys go on and get Ace-I'll take her." he ordered, his stubbornness shining in his eyes. The crew hesitated, then ran. Usually, the first fight was the weakest, but apparently this one…this one was different.

The woman didn't move as the rest of the crew left, confirming Robin's suspicions. She had left where she was supposed to be to fight Luffy.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked, situating his hat firmer on his head.

"Heh…" she grinned widely, showing all of her teeth with an over-joyed expression on her face of anticipation. "I'll tell you when one of us is near death." was her reply, as she drew back and then ran at him again.

Luffy blocked it and threw his own punch, which she dodged with minimal effort and feigned a punch, then kicking him into the ceiling.

"Come on come on come on!!" she shouted, appearing in front of him and frowning, but punching him into the ground below anyways. "Show me your 'Third Gear'! Show me what you use when your nakama are in danger!" she screamed, landing on him and pummeling him. Luffy coughed up more blood and somehow managed to get away from her.

"…What are you?" he asked, staring at her with a serious expression. She grinned again and jerked a thumb towards herself.

"The 13th experiment of the greatest scientist of the New World, of course!!" she said, not looking proud, but rather amused. Luffy wasn't fooled though. Numbness flashed through her eyes briefly when she said that. "Designed not to feel emotions, seastone mixed in with my blood, my bones replaced with diamond-laced steel, and pain-receptors dulled down."

Luffy continued to stare at her.

"The emotions part didn't work out as well as he would have liked, did it?" he asked softly. She smiled at him briefly with a pair of crystal-clear light-green eyes.

"You don't know the half of it." was all she said before appearing in front of him and started exchanging blows again. The impacts of their punches hitting one another was great enough to wreck the room they were in, and as it began to cave-in, she kicked him through the roof, then followed him only to be met with the 'Gum Gum Bazooka', which pushed her back into the collapsing room.

The rubble didn't hold her though, and soon she was out and attacking again.

The crew watched in morbid fascination as this unknown woman easily matched up to their captain on speed and power, although neither of them were at their full power yet.

"They're tearing this place to shreds…" Ussop trailed off in awe, watching as the woman delivered a punch hard enough to send Luffy flying with blood and spittle shooting out of his mouth.

"No." Robin said softly, earning the stares of the entire crew. "They're tearing _each other _to shreds." as if to prove her point, Luffy was promptly impaled with a nearby pipe. The woman used this moment of distraction from their captain to pull a rather large glass shard from her right leg.

Luffy sighed as he stood up.

"…If we keep up any longer like this we'll kill each other." he said, biting down on his thumb.

The woman grinned, her blood-stained light-brown hair whipping with the force of strength coming off of him.

"Finally." she growled, her eyes abruptly switching from green to black, a ripple of power coming from her herself. "You took your damn sweet time!" she cried, lunging for him.

Luffy watched her before appearing behind her. Her eyes widened in surprise before she turned around with the same amount of speed and gave him a firm punch in the gut. Luffy coughed up more blood before releasing his own series of punches on her.

Five minutes later, both of them were coughing up blood and balancing on shaking legs. Blood-loss and pain getting to them both.

"You could just surrender and let me leave you alive." Luffy told her, going into a fighting stance.

"I choose…" she hummed, pretending to think. "Pain!" was her final shout as she appeared in front of him and the brutal exchange continued.

__

Eight Hours Later

Zoro ran out, it was nightfall by now and they had successfully rescued Ace-Ussop and Chopper were on their way to the Thousand Sunny to give him medical treatment.

He followed the only sound of combat still going on, finding a nearly-dead captain and his nearly-dead opponent still fighting all out, blood flying, although there was dried blood staining the walls. It was impossible to tell who's was who's, but Zoro just stared in disbelief. This was the longest Luffy had ever fought on near-equal footing.

The woman's insanity was her advantage over Luffy, but yet she was just as badly damaged as him.

Then she slipped up and took the full force of a punch that sent her through a wall. The difference? This time, she didn't get up. She stayed down.

Luffy staggered over in her direction, practically crawling by the time he got there. Zoro walked quietly behind his captain, and watched as the woman reached out and held out an earring to Luffy, saying something softly to him. Luffy's hand closed around the small silver hoop in acceptance.

Zoro watched with sad eyes as she stopped breathing, knowing that, although an enemy, she would have made a great nakama.

"Zoro." Luffy's hoarse voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Go to Chopper and tell him to have a space for a dead body ready. I'll carry her there myself."

Zoro nodded and turned away, pausing before he left.

"What was her name?" He asked Luffy softly, a soft breeze beginning to pick up.

"…Sakura." Luffy answered quietly, still sitting down and staring and the earring that had been given to him.

"…Why did she fight you?" Zoro asked again, starting to walk away.

"…She wanted to feel pain, as opposed to numbness." was Luffy's hushed answer, his hand closing around the earring as he stood up and started to pick up the lifeless body.


End file.
